Members of the New Zealand rugby team perform the traditional Haka before their 33-10 win over Wales. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

The case for this group of All Blacks being the best of all time continues to be made month by month. It's never easy to compare generations and there is some ferocious competition from the New Zealand annals, but this crop has no weaknesses, its players dedicating themselves to a mastery of the basics and an embrace of the more flamboyant elements of the game.

They are a hard-hearted bunch as well, and perhaps this echo of former times, when the All Blacks ruled by fear and ferocity rather than elegance, is the one single obstacle to their place in our hearts. Brutality has its place in the game, because without it there can be no appreciation of the beautiful aspects of play. Beastliness and poetry share the same field, the one trying to smother the other.

But in the second minute of the game there has been no time for a feud to develop, for a slight to bring the mist down over a hooker's eyes. The earliness of the moment did not prevent Andrew Hore from felling Bradley Davies from behind with a swinging arm. The second row had to be replaced. It coincided with the disappearance of a tighthead prop, the one position where there is no depth at all in the land. Adam Jones was already unavailable and now Aaron Jarvis was being taken from the field on a stretcher. At least he twisted his knee in an accident.

The need to reshuffle Welsh ranks within 90 seconds of the start did not explain why New Zealand won. But the exit of Davies offers evidence to the case for the denial of brilliance to these All Blacks. They play lovely rugby but they are not lovely sportsmen. It is a charge that follows them through the ages: the glitter of their skills is countered by their cynicism.

The incident came in the opening moments and meant that with the rot out of the way at the earliest opportunity, there was plenty of time to explore the acceptable face of Kiwi rugby. And on this score they were much more engaging, from the burst by Israel Dagg, a surge from deep that took him through the tackles of Liam Williams, Leigh Halfpenny and Jonathan Davies and led to the opening try by Liam Messam, to the non-stop work of Richie McCaw.

The captain, on the day of his 115th cap, revealed that his engine purrs as smoothly as ever. He was never far from the action, never far from where the ball was going next, never far from where it would be in a minute's time. Age and injury have made him reinvent himself, just as Michael Jones had to go from the world's best No7 to a monster of a No6. If you want a debate, here's one: McCaw or Jones, the greatest ever. Discuss.

Second-rows Luke Romano and Sam Whitelock stood tall at the lineout and confident on the wing, bruising up front and gliding in open play. They formed part of the lineout that swung open on well-oiled springs to allow Tony Woodcock to plunge over. The front five were as multifunctional as the more glamorous shirts.

Where were Wales in all this? Overwhelmed in the first half, they kept going, strangely rebuilding confidence that had been dented in the first two Tests of the series in the depths of this defeat. To keep going was an achievement in its own right and to score twice was at least a signpost to better days.

But they appeared lost in some wacky notions of what might win this day, with Rhys Priestland three times kicking to the corner – instead of leaving Halfpenny to go penalties at goal – and twice going dead. At the fourth attempt in the second half the logic became clearer, as Wales piled every available player into the lineout – 13 of them – and drove Scott Williams over. It was cheeky and inventive, but if this was a serious interpretation of what might bring down the world champions it was fanciful.

It would have made more sense if the control of the basics was as sound as New Zealand's, but Wales dropped the ball in contact, splashed it out of rucks at the wrong moment and generally looked rushed at every situation where the All Blacks looked unhurried.

The All Blacks, mini versions of McCaw, read the game instinctively, and never fall prey to rushing around. They wait and they wait until the moment to strike comes. And then they assault the breakdown like dervishes. They dictate the pace of the game and are rarely rattled.

That Wales did it again in the buildup to their second try was another crumb of comfort for the home team. To score a second try meant that Wales leapt from one try in two games to three in three. It is a start in the process of recovery. But they were a long way second to the side that never lost control. And that makes it worse that they clouted the Welsh enforcer in the second minute. It means it may have been deliberate and cools our adoration of a great side.